Wednesday’s “First Call” has some quotes from Ben Roethlisberger that the current Pittsburgh Steelers defense won’t like. The NFL has a deal in place to officially use the phrase “three-peat” if the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl.

Alexander Ovechkin scores a buzzer-beater goal. Marc-Andre Fleury hits another milestone.

And local college basketball teams look to get back on the winning track.

Truth Hurts

Last week, former New England wide receiver Julian Edelman had a scathing rebuke of the Steelers’ defensive philosophy.

On his “Names with Games podcast,” Edelman was critical of how little Mike Tomlin’s defensive game plans have evolved since he broke into the league with the Patriots back in 2009.

”You knew exactly what they were doing,” Edelman said of facing the Steelers defense under Mike Tomlin. “And they still do what they did. They still do the same (expletive) (expletive) when I was playing Tomlin’s defense. I’m, like, ‘We still have linebackers covering the three slot?’ Every time we play the Steelers, I (would) have at least nine catches. You would think that they would change it. But, no. They do what they do.”

When asked about those comments on his podcast, Ben Roethlisberger said there’s plenty of merit to Edelman’s claim.

“There’s definitely truth to it. You’ve got to change with the times,” Roethlisberger said at the 33:50 mark of this week’s “Footbahlin”. “We’re not trying to confuse people like other teams do. Other teams are confusing people. Look at the end of that Bills-Chiefs game. (Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnoulo) sent a corner blitz. They sent it for the first time all game in a situation where you would never expect it, and you need it, and they got home.”

Roethlisberger said the Steelers are simply practitioners of a “we are going to do what we always do to win that way” philosophy.

“It’s like we just go through this, ‘Eh, we’re just better than you. We’re going to line up, and we’re going to beat you.’ That works to a certain extent. At some point, you have to decide that you’re going to throw some different wrinkles at teams,” Roethlisberger said.

“That’s something that the Steelers, they got to get away from.”

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Maybe they need nine straight seasons without a playoff win before they make that realization.

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Done deal

The NFL has worked out an agreement with former Los Angeles Lakers coach Pat Riley to use the phrase “Three-Peat.”

Following the Lakers’ back-to-back NBA titles in 1988-89, Riley trademarked the rights to the phrase “Three-Peat.”

According to Front Office Sports, Riley and the NFL have set up to use the term on Chiefs memorabilia if Kansas City becomes the first team in league history to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

Via Darren Rovell at Clict.com, Riley’s trademark attorney, John Aldrich, said plans are “to earmark the money for the Pat Riley Family Foundation.”

Rovell claims that current licensees who would make three-peat products once a deal is struck would be Fanatics, New Era, Wilson, Riddell and Wincraft.

That is, of course, unless the Philadelphia Eagles have something to say about that on Super Bowl Sunday.

Every (10th of a) second counts

Alex Ovechkin scored another goal for the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. It was his 25th of the season and the 878th of his career. He is now just 17 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL record of 894.

The 39-year-old Russian winger managed to get the puck into an empty net with 0.1 seconds left in the game.

That was the final goal of a 6-3 Caps win over the Florida Panthers. Former Penguin Lars Eller also scored for Washington.

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The win improves the Caps’ point total to 77. That’s the best in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division and the entire Eastern Conference. Florida’s 67 points are still tops in the Atlantic Division.

More flowers for Fleury

Former Penguin Marc-Andre Fleury hit his latest milestone Tuesday night in Boston with the Minnesota Wild. The goaltender played in his 1,044th NHL game. That ties him for the second-most games played by a goaltender in league history.

Fleury tied Roberto Luongo for second place behind Martin Brodeur. He totaled 1,266 games played.

The result wasn’t what Fleury wanted. The Wild lost 3-0. But he stopped 32 of 34 shots along the way. Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman was perfect in the other net, stopping all 35 shots he faced.

This will be Fleury’s last trip to Boston as he is retiring at the end of the year. His record against them is 14-10-7, with one more game remaining when the Bruins travel to Minnesota on March 2.

Basketball bounceback

The Robert Morris basketball team was the only one in town that seemed to heat up in late January. The Colonials had won six in a row between Jan. 12-31.

But Andy Toole’s team was derailed Sunday when it lost 66-64 at Wright State.

The Colonials are now 16-8 overall and 8-5 in Horizon League play. That is 3½ games back of Cleveland State (17-6, 11-1) for first place.

RMU looks to rebound against Detroit Mercy (8-16, 4-9) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Colonials lost the first meeting between the clubs on Jan. 2 by a final score of 78-76.

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As for Duquesne, the Dukes travel to Richmond on Wednesday night. The Dukes come in losers of four in a row. They have fallen to 9-13 and 4-5 in the Atlantic-10. The Spiders are struggling too, having lost seven of nine in conference play and 15 of 22 overall. The Spiders are currently in last place in the conference.

Meanwhile, the Duquesne women’s team (15-6, 6-4) rides a four-game win streak into Rhode Island on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. The Rams (11-12, 6-4) lost the first game between the clubs in Pittsburgh 77-64 on Jan. 19.